Patrick Borgen, MD, chair, Department of Surgery, director, Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, discusses a patient's decision to be tested for a BRCA gene.

Borgen says that testing for a BRCA gene can have profound impact on individuals and families and that the decision to be tested should remain up to the patient.

While few women regret having a prophylactic or risk-reducing mastectomy, some do. These women who regret the procedure, Borgen says, are often those who are talked into it by their physician. The physician's job is to inform a patient about the costs and benefits of the procedure and let them make the decision.

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Dr. Borgen on the Decision to be Tested for a BRCA Gene

Patrick Borgen, MD, chair, Department of Surgery, director, Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, discusses the patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Of the 20,000 human genes, about 4,000 are protected under patent or intellectual property rights, Borgen says, making BRCA1 and BRCA2 not all that unique. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed lawsuits arguing that these patents infringe upon the rights of researcher, geneticists, and patients.

As a practicing physician, Borgen has done research with BRCA1 and BRCA2 and has never been impeded by Myriad Genetics. In some ways, Borgen feels that physicians are lucky to have a singe reference laboratory to trust.

Dr. Borgen Discusses the Patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2

Patrick Borgen, MD, chair, Department of Surgery, director, Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, details the factors that go into a patient's decision to undergo a mastectomy.

Evidence says that lumpectomy and radiation is equal to mastectomy, in terms of the ability to cure breast cancer. However, evidence also indicates a lower chance of recurrence with mastectomy. Outside of this, Borgen believes that external factors such as high-profile patients like celebrities undergoing double mastectomies for a small breast cancer greatly influences a patient’s decision.

In general, breast cancer is in the news every day, which plays a role in how women with breast cancer make their treatment decision. However, outside of these factors, Borgen does not believe that doctors are talking women into unneeded mastectomies, but rather that American women as a whole are highly educated and biased in regard to the disease.

Patrick Borgen, MD, from the Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, details the factors that go into a patient's decision to undergo a mastectomy.

Dr. Borgen on the Decision to Undergo a Mastectomy

Patrick Borgen, MD, chair, Department of Surgery, director, Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, discusses the negative effects of “pinkwashing”, a process of making a product pink in order to gain from the association with breast cancer advocacy.

In recent years beast cancer research and funding has grown by leaps and bounds. Awareness and funding has been extraordinarily high due to the efforts of women advocating for each other and themselves. Successful advocacy campaigns have resulted in higher funding for clinical trials, which has led to breast cancer research being far ahead of other types of cancer.

Advocacy successes have not gone unnoticed and many companies have discovered that if you link a product to the cause it can increase sales. In many cases the company will give a portion of the revenue to a breast cancer organization. Initially this was very beneficial and bolstered funding but in recent years pinkwashing has gone overboard.

Many products that are unrelated, such as beer pong tables, KFC buckets, and even weaponry, have adopted the pink coloring. Borgen notes that after a certain point there is so many different pink items that it goes unnoticed. Pinkwashing results in consumers missing the point of the breast cancer cause, which lessens the impact of the entire campaign.

Dr. Patrick Borgen, from the Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, Discusses the Negative Effects of Pinkwashing

Patrick Borgen, MD

Articles

Dr. Borgen on the Decision to be Tested for a BRCA Gene

Dr. Borgen Discusses the Patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2

Dr. Borgen on the Decision to Undergo a Mastectomy

Dr. Borgen on the Negative Effects of Pinkwashing